Canterlot Academy Trials

“Hello, boys,” Mr. Anzac waved a hoof as he called out to them. “I’ve got some good news.”

Blue and Nebula turned to face the older stallion and walked up to him.

“Sir?” Nebula asked, “Is everything alright?”

Anzac nodded with a smile, “More than alright, kiddos. Whatever you did, it’s caused a massive uproar in Canterlot. Dare I say, you might’ve blown the lid on the entire culture of this place.”

Blue folded his arms and smirked at his friend. “Looks like we have, haven’t we?”

Nebula returned the look with a grin of his own. “Thanks for the praise, Mr. Anzac. We did all we could to get Zesty to see where she went wrong. Now, it’s on the rest of the city to act upon what they believe is the best course of action.”

“Well I got a feelin’ that you’ll be seein’ a buncha changes by the time you’re all done with your next big assignment,” Anzac mused as he thought about how much Canterlot would change over time thanks to their efforts. “You lads are all wonderful. Thank ya.”

“No prob--” Nebula replied with a smile, then blinked. “Speaking of which. We do have an assignment, don’t we, Blue?”

The dragon snapped his fingers. “That’s right, we gotta prep for the exams. Dammit…I really don’t wanna be bothered with all that,” he huffed as he shook his head, “But it looks like we have no choice…”

“We’ll have to put our conversation on hold,” Nebula said to Blue before turning to Anzac, “We need to get some parchment and quills to prepare, so if you’ll excuse us…”

“Have a good day, sir!” Blue waved as he left alongside Nebula.

Anzac sighed with relief. It felt good knowing that there were good souls like them around who were willing to go out of their way for regular citizens such as him. ‘Need more folks like them around. Then maybe Canterlot won’t be in the shitter and I can give Harissa a good life…’

Meanwhile, with the boys…

The young stallion and dragon arrived at a stationery store to purchase some parchment, quills, and ink. The confines of the wooden building with various shelves throughout were filled with other students who had been looking to do the same.

But even they were all flabbergasted and up in arms/hooves over what Zesty had done.

“I heard they’re gonna strip her of her authority and banish her to the moon,” a gossiping doberman diamond dog girl commented.

“That’s not what they do,” a changeling stallion replied, “They’ll probably just throw her in a dungeon or something.”

More students were muttering about what would happen to Zesty Gourmand as they purchased their supplies. Hearing it all put a content smile on Blue’s face since he knew they were responsible for such a social change.

“Feels good doesn’t it?” he asked Nebula out of the blue.

Fittingly, the unicorn stallion tilted his head and asked, “Whaddya mean?”

“Being the ones who helped and stood up against a corruption. I feel…liberated, I guess.”

“Meh, I’m not really all that hung up on it,” is what Nebula said on the outside. But truth be told, the young stallion did enjoy the satisfaction of a job well done alongside the acknowledgement. “...well, maybe it feels a little good since we helped out someone who was dealt an unfair deck.”

“Right? Though I know it’s gonna be a bit before we see any major changes,” Blue admitted with a nod, “I’m a dragon. We like attention. But we’re not foolish.”

Nebula scoffed as he levitated some blank scrolls off of a shelf. “Heh--yeah, well it’d be stupid of you to blurt out your secret weapon at the top of your lungs, wouldn’t it? Just hoping our exams don’t give us much of a problem this year.”

“Well, if we become Paladins, we’ll be able to take on more dangerous missions, remember?” Blue explained how the system worked to his friend. “And better missions means getting paid even more over time.”

“Of course,” Nebula replied, knowing full well that Blue’s innate nature as a dragon couldn’t resist the prospect of more money. Then again, neither could he. “I wonder if Luster Dawn is gonna participate…”

“Her? The Princess’s best student?” Blue scoffed at the idea, “Yeah, right. I bet she’ll already have passed by now. She certainly doesn’t need to involve herself with us I don’t think.”

“That…may be true. Still…” Nebula wondered if Dawn was willing to throw away the shackles that she thought had bound her to the position of the princess’ protege.

As the boys got ready to buy their supplies, they were approached by a rather large dalmatian diamond dog woman wearing a purple sweater.

“Excuse me…a-are you two some of Fang’s friends?” she called out to Nebula and Blue, which caused them to turn around as the teller rang up their purchases.

“Hm?” Blue nodded, “Yeah, we know him. Are you his mother?”

“Y-yes…” the dog woman replied with a nervous wag of her tail, “I heard the exams were coming up and I wanted to be present for him, in spite of…other matters.”

“Well that’s nice of you,” Nebula replied with a smile as he paid for their items with some bits. “Fang always seems like he’s on edge, so I’m sure having his mom around will ease his tensions a bit.”

“That’s…what I’m hoping for!” the dog woman barked hopefully before turning to leave, “Thank you for letting me know!”

Blue couldn’t help but notice just how shaky her voice was throughout the exchange as she left. “...Wonder why she’s so nervous of seeing her son?”

“Hopefully their relationship is okay,” Nebula replied as he levitated their bags of supplies and pushed one of them into Blue’s arms. “But we gotta get ready for the tests in case we get an unpredictable question or two. C’mon, Blue.”

"Blech...the sooner we get this over with, the better," Blue hissed as he reluctantly clutched the bag.